Labour
Other candidates in the constituency
By Michael Daventry
Luck was on Joan Ryan’s side. A cold February downpour struck her party campaign team of twelve eager volunteers just as they broke for lunch.
By the time I joined her in the Island Village housing estate that afternoon, it was dry and the Labour candidate for Enfield North was out again knocking on doors.
“I like how people recognise me,” she told me as a passer-by smiled at her. “We’re getting a good response from people on the doorstep, particularly about Chase Farm.”
She was carrying a petition on Chase Farm Hospital that she was inviting residents to sign. Her Conservative rival Nick de Bois, she said, had broken a promise he jointly made with David Cameron to keep the hospital’s emergency department open.
FIGHT AND FIGHT AND FIGHT FOR CHASE FARM
“You should never mislead your constituents. I don’t have to put the words in their mouths: everyone’s seen the pictures and the words. You can’t make a promise on the important issue in people’s lives – literally – and you can’t break it.
“My promise is to fight and fight and fight to protect Chase Farm for our community.”
Of course, this is familiar territory for Joan Ryan. She was the MP and her Labour Party was in government when the first proposals to downgrade the hospital first surfaced.
She was elected MP three times for the constituency since 1997 served as an immigration minister before losing narrowly to the Conservative Nick de Bois in 2010.
When asked whether she thought the coalition’s immigration policies were harsh, she picked her words carefully: “I think it’s important that the debate about immigration is framed around fairness. We need a discussion that considers people’s concerns and fears.”
But she added she closely understood the fears and difficulties encountered by migrants.
The Irish community, to which her mother belonged, found being an immigrant “can cause a big fracture in your life. There are still centres to support Irish people who have found it difficult.”
WHY DID SHE LOSE?
The Turkish-speaking communities are “aspirational and very entrepreneurial” and are following the same path, she said.
Enfield North, Enfield Lock’tan Chase’e uzanan büyük bir bölgeyi kapsıyor
So why did Enfield North’s voters eject her in 2010?
“I lost but I was not beaten,” she said with a smile.
There were two reasons that lost her Enfield North in 2010, she told me. The first was a boundary review that moved Ponders End, a predominantly Labour area, into the neighbouring Edmonton constituency and replaced it with the strongly Conservative Highlands ward.
The second was then Labour leader Gordon Brown, who “had difficulty gaining the support of the population. He could not convince people he should be prime minister. And we had been in power for a long time.”
But what about the expenses scandal of 2009? Ms Ryan’s claims of £4,500 for work on her Enfield home was widely criticised after they were exposed by the Daily Telegraph.
EXPENSES A POLITICAL SMEAR
“This is a politically motivated smear. Ipsa [the body that monitors MPs’ expenses] told me there was no case to answer.
“I’m honest and happy to explain myself. But I don’t get asked on the doorstep about it very much.”
İşçi Partisi, Enfield North’da büyük bir ekiple kampanya çalışmalarını yürütüyor
The Turkish speakers I encountered in Enfield North didn’t seem too fazed by the allegations surrounding her expenses either. Burhan, a shopkeeper on the Hertford Road, said he cared more about what was happening in national politics.
“Nick de Bois might have done a good job here for the last few years, but his party’s policies on benefits and housing have been terrible. I can’t possibly support him. My vote is for Joan Ryan.”